This invention has the advantage over current state-of-the-art alcohol based solvent chillers in that it significantly reduces the time required to chill alcohol-based solvents to ultra-low temperatures (−90 degrees C.) by several hours. The non-obvious design is accomplished by innovative designs taking advantage of the extremely cold liquid properties of Nitrogen while simultaneously overcoming the problems encountered with low temperature alcohol-based solvents.
It is to be understood that the term “Ethanol” as used in this document is to include any alcohol-based substance of similar properties to Ethanol and used for similar purposes.
The manufacture of Cannabinoids, specifically Cannabidiol (CBD) or Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), using Ethanol is accomplished by soaking the appropriate plant material, such as Hemp or Marijuana, in Ethanol. This allows the solvent properties of Ethanol to extract useful substances, namely Cannabinoids, from the plant material. But, unwanted plant material, such as Chlorophyll or waxes, is extracted by the Ethanol as well. The extraction of unwanted plant material is due to the polar nature of Ethanol while the process occurs at temperatures exceeding 0 degrees C. Further purification, such as winterization, is required to remove the unwanted plant material, increasing the time, effort, and capital required to produce quality CBD or THC. As the temperature of the Ethanol decreases, the extraction of unwanted plant material also decreases. Once the temperature is below that of −60 degrees C., further purification becomes unnecessary. Thus, CBD or THC extraction with super-cooled Ethanol is extremely efficient, and a method of chilling the Ethanol rapidly to very low temperatures becomes increasingly desirable. The preferred embodiment is capable of the rapid chilling of Ethanol to very low temperatures.
Typical processes to manufacture CBD or THC may use walk-in freezers to chill the Ethanol to temperatures around −30 degrees C. This significantly decreases CBD or THC manufacture time because of three reasons: 1. It takes relatively more time and effort to move Ethanol into and out of such freezers; 2. The cooling rate of the Ethanol within such freezers is relatively slow; and 3. The temperatures within such freezers are often only −30 or −40 degrees C., further decreasing the cooling of the Ethanol within them.
The capability to rapidly chill Ethanol to ultra-cold temperatures (−90 degrees C.) is also useful in a laboratory setting where experiments are performed using the chilled Ethanol. More experiments and research can be done in a set period of time as the speed at which the Ethanol is chilled increases.
A significant problem with current Ethanol chillers is the inability to cool quickly. This is due mainly to the characteristic of the Ethanol chemical, in that at colder temperatures, especially below −30 degrees C., Ethanol increases in viscosity, meaning it becomes thick like honey. This increased viscosity creates two problems: 1. Heat exchangers become clogged, or even frozen, and barely function; and 2. Pumps used to increase convection across the heat exchanger become inefficient or even fail.
An additional problem with current Ethanol chillers is that the majority are mechanical and as such are unable to cool below a temperature determined by the chiller refrigerant. Typically, their range is limited to a much higher temperature than the −196 degrees C. of the liquid Nitrogen, making it nearly impossible to attain the −90 degrees C. Ethanol temperature.